New GM Still Tightening Belt

Immediate new initiatives will include an experiment in selling cars on line, in cooperation with eBay(EBAY Quote), and a thinning out of top management.

One thing in GM's favor is that "most Americans want this company to succeed -- I know that speaks volumes, many volumes, about the potential of this company," said new Chairman Ed Whitacre. But "don't misunderstand," he added. "There's still a lot of work to be done."

New GM includes valuable assets like Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. The bad assets remain in a second company, called Motors Liquidation, which will go through a more conventional, slower Chapter 11 bankruptcy, in which assets are sold and liabilities are liquidated over a period of years.

For the time being, existing shares of GM(GMGMQ Quote), linked to Motors Liquidation, will continue to trade on the Pink Sheets. Although they are worthless, the shares were trading late Thursday morning at $1.14, up 36.2%. Meanwhile, shares in Ford(F Quote) were trading at $5.72, up 1.6%.